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“font-family: Verdana;”>We are left wondering … what message did the
give us when it executed Troy Anthony Davis? That no matter what,
we cannot stop the death machine to admit we’re wrong? Or we really
don’t care about innocence or serious doubt, we’re in the execution
business? Regardless of the answer, the case for abolishing the
death penalty just got a huge boost at the expense of
Davis.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family:”>The execution of Troy Davis has put the supporters for Reggie Clemons in high gear. Clemons sits on Missouri’s Death Row after being summarily convicted with very little hard evidence. The Justice for Reggie Campaign has joined forces with its national partners to highlight Reggie’s case on October 10 World Day Against the Death Penalty.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family:”>The American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International NAACP and the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty were also involved in the Troy Davis case; all are actively working to end the death penalty in the U.S.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family:”>Last week, the world’s eyes were on Georgia’s execution chamber. Over a million signatures, the Pope, a former U.S. President, judges, former wardens, movies stars, more than 300 protests worldwide, a Nobel Peace winner – their pleas fell on death ears from lower courts to the Georgia Board of Parole and Probation to the U.S. Supreme Court.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family:”>The case of Troy Davis didn’t start to unravel at the end of his legal road. It’s been unraveling since 1989 when he was arrested for the alleged killing of Savannah off-duty police officer Mark MacPhail. So-called eye witnesses were coerced or tricked into identifying Davis. Over the years, seven of the nine witnesses recanted their testimonies. There was no physical evidence that connected Davis to the crime, and no murder weapon was ever found. Given this and the fact that scientific research cites eyewitness testimony as the least reliable, the case should have never been a death penalty case.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family:”>There are consequences to the state’s intentional prosecutorial misconduct in these types of cases where innocent people spend years in prison, or on death row or are executed.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family:”>For those who are manipulated or coerced into making false testimonies, their lives are a living hell. Sometimes they sink in depression with the weight of what they’ve done; they often abuse drugs and alcohol. In some extreme cases, they fling themselves out of high rise buildings to their death as Mary Ellen Lyner did. Lyner was a major witness in the case of Ellen Reasonover who was falsely accused of murdering a gas station attendant and who served nearly 16 years in prison before being exonerated.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family:”>Jurors also experience similar trauma when they later find out that important evidence was hidden from the defense, that witnesses were coerced or any other of the prosecutorial tricks used to get a conviction. This is a system that is rotten to the core.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family:”>The Troy Davis case has laid bare the naked injustices that were perpetrated from start to finish. We will begin to see a fervent unwillingness by juries to convict in capital murder cases unless there is DNA and other forensic evidence – real science, not junk science. No testimonies by jailhouse or paid informants. No testimony by police.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family:”>Just last week, yet another local case of wrongful conviction emerged – and there’s many more where that came from. George Allen has served 30 years in the 1982 rape and murder case of a white court reporter. The shocking tale of how an innocent, mentally challenged, young black man was forced to confess to murder is brilliantly detailed in last week’s St. Louis American.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family:”>The handiwork of prosecutors like Nels Moss, Dean Hoag and Kenny Hulshof has helped to cast this wide net of public distrust. They have criss-crossed the ethics line many times for the sake of getting a conviction at any costs. Whether it’s suspects, families of victims, exploited witnesses or manipulated jurors – we are all collateral damage when a prosecutor is trying to make a name for himself.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family:”>In his last dying words, Troy Davis maintained his innocence and asked the MacPhail family to “look deeper … so that you can finally see the truth.”
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family:”>Reggie’s supporters wholly embrace Troy’s recommendation as they seek the truth. His hearing date was recently changed to March 5, 2012. Reggie doesn’t see the rescheduling as a setback. He says it means a few more months of life and the opportunity to prove his innocence.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family:”>All justice-seeking citizens must also look deeper in search for the truth. It will be the only redeeming grace for the many lives destroyed by a broken system of justice.
